The Art of Sadaqa: Charity for the Soul in Ramadan

Individuals waiting in a soup kitchen line in San Francisco. Volunteering time in a food pantry allowed the author's five-year-old to see that "charity is also not limited to people who look like him or share his faith."

This is part of our on-going ContraDance: Embracing Difference series. It is following educators, administrators and students at the Claremont School of Theology as they strive to create the nation’s first fully-accredited, interfaith seminary.

“To smile in the company of your brother is charity… To guide a person in a place where he can not get astray is charity….. To remove troublesome things like thorns and bones from the road is charity. .. To pour water from your jug into the jug of your brother is charity.” Summary of Hadith (Bukhari)

This month I am reflecting on the hidden spiritual life of the Muslim family. There are incredible, quiet acts of courage and love that emanate from many Muslim families in this blessed month.

This is an aspect of nurturing and spiritual development/education that is often ignored or not included in discourse about religion and interfaith dialogue.

Also, increasingly, there is a need to explore what it means to embody Islam as a lived religion and study how the practice of faith occurs and is transmitted to the next generations.

Mothers As Leaders

My story starts with my friend Laila Khan who inspires me with her boundless energy that she has as a mother and community leader. In fact, I don’t separate the two.

I honor Laila for her incredible efforts to educate her children, this is too a form of leadership that needs to be recognized. Many of us keep connected with her via facebook, where she shares examples of activities she does in her home during Ramadan.

One of the ideas nearly moved me to tears. A sadaqa jar is filled regularly by her children, designed and made by her children and filled with change they gather to send to a needy family they support every year.

Laila’s jar has a symbolism and beauty that I appreciate deeply.

Children are honored and joined into the process of learning what charity means. Indeed, as child development psychologists will tell you, learning empathy is a key to maturing in a healthy fashion as an adult.

I remember being told often in Sunday school that we needed to give charity, however the actual practice of it was not discussed or the vehicles to do so were very distant and unimaginative.

In addition to obligatory charitable donations by the adults in a family, engaging our children, valuing their contributions to giving and partnering with them so they develop habits of charitable practices allows this to be a lifetime passion for them.

Connecting The Dots For Social Justice

My 5 year old does not let me pass a homeless person without making a donation. Yesterday he asked me, “Mama if we have so much money, why aren’t we helping more people.”

His consciousness for helping others has the transparency and clarity that adults often try to obscure.

So we went to the food kitchen pantry of the Islamic Center of Southern California to fill bags and hand them out to those who came in search of meals in these tough times. My 5 year old witnessed that charity is also not limited to people who look like him or share his faith.

There were dozens of people, mostly those who were not Muslim and represented the ethnic makeup of the downtown Los Angeles community.

For him, this was an awakening on several levels.

First, we served together as a family, so he saw that for his 3 year sister, his Daddy and Mommy , this was an important joint activity and we were doing it as a team. It was important enough to us to choose it above other activities.

Second, he understood that in serving others, he is serving God as well. Afterwards, he told me “Mama, I feel good when I do help others.”The reward is a heart that is guided towards love of humanity. He learned that this type of activity is not a burden, it is a joy.

And finally, charity is also local. Muslims are exhorted repeatedly in our holy texts to serve our neighbors. He realized this means any who live close to our communities, regardless of race, class, creed or religion, we are to serve them with happiness and with honor.

Charity Creates Connection To Creator

We are blessed with many things in life.

As my neighbors may suffer here in Los Angeles, or people in Somalia suffer, or after disasters like Japan, I pray that my children are at the forefront of serving those close to them and those far.

This is my greatest hope as a parent, that my children’s hearts remain soft, that they look at their fellow humans and give freely and recognize that this is the highest form of humanity.

Charity itself a way to get closer to their Creator.

Join me as we try to teach these lessons, in our own imperfections and mistakes learn together in humility.

I am thankful for all those mothers and fathers, like mine who put time aside to serve alongside their children and showed us that to learn to give, we must be taught how to give.

Najeeba Syeed-Miller Professor Najeeba Syeed-Miller, J.D., teaches Interreligious Education at Claremont School of Theology. She has extensive experience in mediating conflicts among communities of ethnic and religious diversity, and has won awards for her peacemaking and public interest work.More posts by this author »